Web feeding device



L. C. NIELD June l1, 1946.

WEB FEEDING DEVICE Filed sept. e, 1944 NN w ...iwf

l INVENTVQR Leslz'efamden/Viel@ ATTORNEYS Passa .time 11,1946

wan resumo nevica Leslie Camden Nield, Glossop, England, assigner to Tootal Bros/dhurst Lee Company Limited,

Manchester, England Application September 6, i944, Serial No. 552,914 In Great Britain September 3, 1943 10 claims.-

displaceable about their axes as the wheel or drumv rotates to engage the cloth or other web and feed this forward, these pins being either positively moved outwards and inwards relatively to the axis of the wheel or drum, or may be moved in one direction against springs, such for instance as by displacing the spring controlled pins as they rotate with the wheel or drum against lthe surface of a stationary cam. 1

The device is preferably combined with a wheel or drum having bristles, and I prefer such bristles to be disposed on the same wheel or drum as carries the pins engaging the web.

It is obvious that the fabric cannot become i displacedowing to the fact that the pins hold it positively throughout its travel round the device up to and including the transfer to the stenter pins. It can be geen that the device can be power driven in such a way that its speeds can be a certain amount slower than, equal to, or considerably faster than the stenter pins, thus causing a particular limited amount of warp stretching,

a normal warp tension or a considerable warp overfeed to counterbalance the particular warp shrinkage and if the drive is infinitely variable between the two limits it can be pre-set to give the required conditions for most fabrics` The invention can be used on any known stenter, with or without automatic cloth guiding Y and in particular in combination with British Patent No. 542,323.

One form of construction is illustrated by way ci' example in the accompanying drawing,- in

35 the cloth in the stenter machine.

. 2 adapted to swivel freely about a vertical axis or an axis at right angles to the direction of displacement of the stenter pins;

This web or band is fed to and placed upo 5 the pins by means of a rotating wheel t on which are mounted a plurality of evenly spaced radially disposed plungers 5, the outer ends of which are formed as or carry sharp pins 5, which plungers are guided in guideways in the wheel il and have tappet heads l holding up compression springs 8 against the pressure of a stationary cam t. It will consequently be seen that as the wheel i rotates, the `pins 6 will enter-the .cloth i smoothly and feed this on to the pins 2 of the stenter 3 by reason of the action of the cam 9, and that as soon as the cloth has been taken up by the pins 2, the pins ii will be withdrawn from engagement with the web ofcloth i as the tapet heads i pass on to the recessed portion of the cam 9 underaction of the springs d.

to the plane of rotation ci the wheel ii and symmetrically on either side of the median plane in which the pins 6 lie, these bristles acting to press the fabric evenly down uponlthe pins t without any risk of damage. to the `fabric.

In certain cases it will be desirable to drive the wheel d at a higher peripheral speed than the speed of translation of the stenter pin gill 3, so that the cloth is over fed to these pins, thereby compensating for longitudinal warp shrinkage of In this case the `displacement oi' the pins out of engagement with the cloth as the cloth is transferred to the pins of the stenter prevent the cloth from being torn.

40 Instead of impressingv the cloth wholly upon the pins of the stenter by means of the bristles it -on this wheel or drum these bristles ill may depress the cloth i partially upon the pins 2 of impressed upon the pins 2 of the stenter by a second free running brush wheel running in tandem thereto` -One of the above devices is disposed on either side of the web which in the case ol Woven fabric is in direct line with the selvage and `at the same time in direct line with the run of pins on a stenter chain and immediately above them at such a height that the bristles on the wheel t5 shall force the fabric on to the stenter pins with the stenter, the cloth or web i then being further asoao'rs stances involved. I declare that what I claim is: l. A methodV of feeding a continuous web oi material on to a stenter, consisting in engaging the path of the points of stenter-pins, displacing the said pins whilst engaging the web in. a path the continuation of which would intersect the to engagement of the web upon the stenter-pins. 2. A webv feeding device for feeding a web to the stenter-pins of a stenter and consisting of a l plurality-of pins movable in guides radial to a vcommon centre, means to guide aweb of cloth into range of the points of said radial pins to be engaged thereby outside the path of the points of said stenter-pins, means to displace said radial pins about said centre to bring the web impaled thereon into a position in which said web intersects the path of displacement ofthe points of said stenter-pins, and means to move said web engaging radial pins away from said stenter-pins and out of engagement with the fabric immediately prior to the engagement of the web by said stenter-pins.

3. A web feeding device comprising in combination a travelling stenter, a wheel rotatable about a centre, a plurality of pins radially mounted in said wheel, means to positively move said pins radially outwards from said centre so that their points describe a locus other than concentric with said centre and passing at one place adjacent to the locus of the points of the pins of said stenter, and means to retract said radially movable pins adjacent said place.

4., A web feeding device comprising a combination a travelling stenter, a wheel, a plurality of pins radially mounted in guides insald wheel, means to rotate said guides about said centre so that the locus of the points of the pins mounted therein passes adjacent to the locus of the points of the stenter-pins, a stationary cam mounted about said centre and'engaging said radial pins and having its minimum eccentricity substantially about the radial line from the centre of rotation of the guides to a place where the path of the points of the pins in said guides if not retracted would intersect the path of the points of the stenter-pins.

5. A web feeding device comprising in combination a travelling stenter, a wheel rotatable t about a centre, a plurality of pins radially mounted in said wheel, means to positively move said pins radially outwards from said centre so that their ends describe a locus other than concentric with said centre and passing adjacent the locus of the points of the pins of said stenter, means to retract said radially movable pins immediately previous to the place where the loci would intersect if the said radial pins were not retracted, and a plurality of flexible bristles radially disposed on said wheel and 'surrounding the pins guided therein.

6. A web feeding device comprising in combination a travelling stenter, a wheel rotatable the required amount o ripple A'for the circumabout a centre, aiplurality of pins radially mounted in said wheel, means to positively move said pins radially outwards from said centre so that j the web at a number of spaced points consecu tively along its edges by means lof pins outside their ends describe a locus other than concentric with said centre and passing adjacent the locus of the points of the pinsv of said stenter, means to retract -said pins immediately previous to the place where the loci would intersect if said radial pins were not retracted and a plurality of ilexible bristles radially disposed on said wheel and surrounding the pins guided therein and inclined in planes at an angle to the plane of said pins guided therein.

'17. A web feeding device comprising in combination a travelling stenter,-a wheel rotatable about a centre, a plurality of pins radially mounted in said.wheel means to positively move said pins radially outwards from said centre so that their ends describe a'locus other than concentric with said centre and passing adjacent the locus of the points of the pins of said stenter, means to retract said pins immediately previous the place where the loci would intersect if the said radial pins were not retracted, a plurality of ilexible bristles-radially disposed onesaid wheel and surrounding the pins guided therein, and a peripheral cloth supporting flange on said wheel offset from said pins.

8. A web feeding device comprising in combination a travelling stenter, a Wheel rotatable about a centre, a plurality' of pins radially mounted in said wheel, means to move said pins radially outwards from said centre to engage theweb, and means to retract each pin towards said centre in sequence to release the web after a portion of the web substantially equal in length to the-distance between the pointsof two of said radially movable pins `and terminating at the pin being retracted, has been engaged upon the vpins of the stenter.

9. A web feeding device comprising in combination a travelling stenter, a wheel rotatable about a centre, a plurality of pins radially mounted in said wheel the points of which are driven about said centre at a greater peripheral speed than the speed of the points of the stenter-pins, means to move said pins radially outwardsA from said centre to engage the web, and means to retract each pin towards said centre in sequence to release the web after a portion of the web substantially equal in length to the distance between the points of two of said radially movable pins and terminating at the pin being retracted, has been engaged upon the pins of the stenter.

. l0., A method of feeding a continuous web of material on to web conveying means, consisting in engaging the web at a number of spaced points consecutively along its edges by. means of pins outside the path of-its engagement by said web conveying means, displacing the said pins whilst engaging the web in a path the continuation of which would intersect the path of the places of engagement of said web conveying means, and disengaging said pins from the web at substantially said place of intersection and immediately prior to engagement of the web LESLIE CAMDEN NIELD. 

